Save Me, Dad!
by StarWarrior72
Summary: ACTUALLY NOT A FATHER SON FIC. It's a friendship fic. And proof that my brain really needs a cleaning. ONESHOT.


"Remember, Kid. Sneak. Just like smuggling. And for heaven's sake, hide that lightsaber!" Han pushed Luke's shoulders, leading him towards the boarding ramp.

Luke turned over his shoulder and grinned at his friend. "Han, I've never smuggled in my life."

Han paused, "Right. Yeah. I forgot for a second. You seem too nice a guy to have grown up respectably. Good luck. I'll be waiting for you in the square."

Luke trotted down the landing ramp, tucking his lightsaber out of sight. He exited the door of the hanger and set off in the direction of the Imperial outpost he was supposed to be observing. He heard Han exit the ship as well, and felt blurrily that he was leaving through a different exit.

He took a moment to try to sense his friend's direction, but finally shrugged to himself and continued walking. He was glad not to run across any stormtroopers on his way towards the base, at least not at first.

When he did finally encounter a few, they seemed distracted, comforted by the notion that, so far inside the Imperial lines, they were safe from Rebels.

Luke continued walking, pretending he was heading for a distant steeple. As he walked, he quietly took in the culture, even pausing to watch in wonder as a couple, walking along a beach, began to pick up stones and actually _skim them across_ the water.

He shook himself away with a silent vow to ask Han how that was done and continued towards his destination. As he walked, he found himself picking up rocks and trying to skim them as well, but all he managed was a split second delay in submerging, which may have been his imagination.

When he finally arrived at his destination, possibly a few minutes behind schedule, he wasted no time in meandering around the building, looking innocently curious, to find a vent large enough to crawl into.

He found one fairly quickly, conveniently situated behind a large shrub. Slipping under the bush, he proceeded to wrench the grate from the wall, and slip into the vent.

He crawled along quite comfortably for several feet before the vent took a sharp turn upward. He carefully turned himself around so he was sitting with his back to the sharp turn and rolled his sleeves up as far as he could. Then he carefully stood and launched himself up as far as he could. It amounted to approximately a foot on his usual height. Carefully catching himself with the skin on his lower arms, he started to shimmy up the vent.

When he reached a flat turn off of the vent, he looked down it, but saw no more grates through which he could listen. Sighing, he continued to drag himself up until the next level. There he slipped into the next vent, regardless of any grates he hoped to come across.

He lay there, panting as quietly as possible for several minutes before rolling onto his stomach and starting to inch down the smaller vent. He was glad to discover a vent looking into what looked like a cafeteria.

As he approached it, however, several people looked up at it. He flattened himself against the floor of the vent as quickly as he could. After several minutes lying there, scarcely daring to breathe, he dredged up the courage to peek over the edge. Everyone had gone back to their meals, oblivious to the young rebel in their air supply.

Luke slipped one hand into a pocket and carefully produced a small recording system, which he laid at the edge of the grill and activated it. Then he relaxed, resting his chin on his crossed arms and listened to the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria.

When he awoke, the sounds had died away almost completely.

Panicking, he forgot for a moment the simplicity of checking how long he had been recording. Instead, he poked his head out over the grill, trying to spot a chrono. After a moment, the obvious occurred to him and he reverted quickly to checking the recording.

_Oh, good. Only a couple of hours. I guess they're pretty scheduled. But I'm still late for Han. _Hastily, he turned off his recorder and carefully slipped back out and into the hedge.

Spitting out a few leaves, he thought, _Hello again, Bush. Nice to see you._

Then he squirmed out from under the bush and right into a stormtrooper.

_Oh, damn._

The trooper grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hauled him upright. "And just where do you think you're going?"

Luke snarled silently at himself. How could he have been so stupid? After everything, everything he'd been through, he was stupid enough to get caught so easily. He wasn't going to be able to avenge his father, make him _proud._ He was going to be tortured and killed, because he wasn't smart enough to peek out of his bush!

He wanted to swear. Or punch something. Or, better yet, both. Instead, he bit his lip and allowed tears to come to his eyes.

"I don't know where I'm going I-" he paused for a semi-false hiccup and spotted Han over the trooper's shoulder. He quickly pretended he hadn't noticed his friend and returned his attention to the trooper. "And I won't know until I find my dad! He was supposed to meet me here!" He did a false double take, as though noticing Han for the first time.

"Dad!" he squirmed out of the confused soldier's grip, racing at Han full tilt. He barely noticed the look of shock on his friend's face before the smuggler pulled on a sabacc face and ran towards him, catching him and hugging him close.

Acting desperately relieved to see one another was all too easy.

At last, Luke allowed the trooper to drag him from Han's arms.

"What the hell were you doing under that bush?" he snarled.

Han put on an expression of mock horror. "Don't you speak to my son like that!"

Luke snatched the sentiment and put on his best astonished expression.

The trooper reached for his blaster. "I would be authorized to blow you both to pieces. Don't tempt me."

Han swelled, and Luke was sure he was going to respond angrily, but he just deflated slowly, hissing like a punctured tire. Luke supposed he was using the guise of indignant father.

Deciding it was his turn to speak, Luke sniffled loudly, "I was supposed to meet Dad here, he was gonna show me around, but he didn't show up right after school. And then it was starting to get dark, and I didn't want anyone to find me 'cause I thought they'd be mad. So I crawled under the bush, but I realized Dad wouldn't know where to find me, so I came out, and I bumped into you." He shrank back against Han, as though expecting him to protect him.

Han obligingly put one arm around him.

"You were going to give your son a tour of the grounds?" asked the trooper. "You realize this is high security?"

Han was at a loss for words, so Luke piped up again. "Dad used to be a janitor here. He thought you wouldn't mind."

"Okay," the trooper said doubtfully. "I'll let you go this time, but don't let me catch you again. And keep in mind, just because you've worked for someone doesn't mean they will tolerate nosiness."

"Yes Sir, we'll stay away, sir." Han nodded.

Luke nodded too, energetically, still trying to make himself appear younger than he was.

Han turned, sweeping Luke along under his arm. Luke followed, and they hurried away from the building. As soon as they were out of hearing range, and sight, Han released his friend.

"Man, I can't believe we made it!" Luke gasped, staring into the darkness of the back alley they had turned down.

Han didn't answer.

"I thought for sure we were both gonna die!"

"Come on, we need to get back to the _Falcon_ before they realize I never worked for them."

"Yeah."

Luke ran the length of the alley, searching for the hanger bay. When they at last reached it, Han raced up the ramp ahead of him, brushing past Leia.

"What took you so long?" Leia asked Luke as he slid into the ship just as the ramp began to close.

"I-I fell asleep" he panted.

Leia's face was filled with shock, unable to hide it, even with her political talents. "You _fell asleep?_"

"Yeah. Once I'd placed the recorder, I just kind of drifted off." At the continued surprise on her face, he defended himself, "I was lying in the warm air intake! I was supposed to stay there for an hour and record everything that happened! I just drifted off!"

Leia managed to turn her expression into one of polite amusement. "You're lucky you don't snore then, aren't you?"

Luke blushed, "I hadn't even thought of that."

"Maybe you should go and get some sleep in a bed, Luke."

"Yeah, maybe I should. Next time could be worse."

"How did you wake up anyway?"

"I just woke up."

"How did you meet back up with Han?"

"I met him in the courtyard. I'd kind of been captured."

"Come on up to the cockpit, I think I'm going to need both of you to get a clear picture of what happened next."

Luke nodded and followed her, explaining as they went. "The trooper had just caught me when I noticed Han, and I dunno," they entered the cockpit, "I just shouted, 'Dad!' and raced towards him."

Leia crumpled. Luke fell to his knees beside her. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Leia managed to lift her head to look into his eyes. "You called him Dad and you _got away with it?_"

Tears of laughter started to streak her face.

Luke blinked in surprise. He said, "Yeah, I did."

At the exact same moment, Han snarled, "Yeah, he did. And I don't want to hear about it from either one of you ever again. Got that?"

Leia was now having trouble breathing. Luke was looking back and forth between them, trying to decide on his own reaction. Chewbacca looked as though he was about to fall out of the co-pilot's seat for his own laughter. Threepio and Artoo had prudently left the danger zone. As Han turned to see Leia sobbing tears of laughter, Luke caught sight of the expression on his face, and hurried after the droids muttering something about needing sleep.


End file.
